That first position search engine result that you covet isn't worth the effort if it isn't where your audience is looking for it. It also isn't worth it when the audience you are reaching isn't the one that you want. Careful strategy makes the most of your investment and makes it easier for you.
As you embark on an SEO campaign one of the first steps will be to determine keyword phrases to target. The keywords that you select will be used to write copy for your website, to select page titles, to name links, to produce meta data for your pages, images and video. You'll develop the structure of the site, determine the content on landing pages, craft press releases, plan new content for the site, even register a domain name all based on the keywords that you select. In short every decision that is made in this campaign will be based on keywords.
Those keywords then determine the search engine queries that return your site in their results. And there is the issue. Assuming that your search engine optimization campaign is successful and you rise through the ranks appearing on the first page of results. You want to be sure that your audience is there to find you when you achieve your goal.
So where do those keywords come from? Some are easy. Product types, brand names, industries, locations, these all make fine keywords. But these are broad keywords. Your company, your competition and hundreds of other associated companies and websites are targeting those same keywords. Achieving high ranks for broad keywords is tough. So you pick niche keywords.
Niche keywords are more difficult to select than broad ones. They are based on how your audience thinks and talks about your products and services. The words are more nuanced and specific to your audience. They may even change based on how close your audience is to conversion. Of course this means you have to really know who your audience is in both meaning of that phrase. You have to know which audience you want to target and you have to know the specific attributes of that audience.
Knowing your audience to this detail takes research and interviews. Most importantly it takes an open mind willing to see audiences in a new way because sometimes this process uncovers surprises about the ways that audiences think and talk. These insights can yield the most valuable keywords. But they can be a gamble, which leads to my last point.
Along with beginning your search engine optimization effort with research, you have to continue researching. Reviewing and analyzing your results to confirm that your campaign is drawing the audience that you intended and that they are acting as you anticipated puts you more in touch with your audience and how they are changing. Then revising your campaign as needed is critical for maintaining the rankings that you worked so hard to achieve.
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Insights
Q14: can you put a price on a "Eureka" experience?